Officially, I have had it with John Buccigross of ESPN.com. The guy is a complete tool. I read ESPN.com's hockey coverage for an alternate view of hockey, but I am officially never reading John Buccigross' articles again after his published "work" went up on the site today. The reasons for not reading his articles are many: his questionable music tastes, his obscure musical lyrics that relate in no way to the question asked by a reader, his general lack of hockey knowledge, and his lack of knowledge of the English language. It is this last factor that has completely turned me off of Buccigross' articles for good.First, a quick look at Mr. Buccigross' bio. According to ESPN.com, "John Buccigross serves as a SportsCenter and ESPNEWS anchor and occasionally hosts ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. He joined ESPN as an ESPNEWS anchor in October 1996, prior to the launch of the 24-hour sports news network that November. Buccigross was the primary host of NHL 2Night, ESPN2’s 30-minute program dedicated to hockey highlights and news from 1998 – 2004. Since 2001, he has also been a weekly ESPN.com columnist.
"Prior to joining ESPN, Buccigross had been at WPRI-TV in Providence, R.I., since December 1994. He started as the station’s weekend sports anchor, and later became weekday anchor. Before WPRI, Buccigross worked at a local news network, Cape 11 News, in Massachusetts from August 1989 to December 1994.
"Buccigross, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., received a communications/theater arts degree from Heidelberg College in 1988."
Now, I don't know what kind of English classes a communications/theatre arts student is required to take in order to graduate, but I do know that there are some mistakes that even a fifth-grade English student wouldn't make. And yet, Mr. Buccigross not only makes these mistakes, but sends them to an editor and has them published on ESPN.com. Does anyone at ESPN know the English language, or is ESPN nothing but a building filled with an infinite amount of monkeys working on an infinite amount of typewriters?
Allow me a visual demonstration of ESPN's and Mr. Buccigross' expertise in English:
Now, I'm not a journalist or an English major, but I make mistakes. I will give Bruce from Massachusetts the benefit of the doubt that he made an honest mistake. I will not, however, give both John Buccigross and ESPN.com the same benefit due to the fact that he writes his own copy and submits it to an editor for online publishing. The fact that Buccigross uses the word "forward" when referring to the FOREWORD of the book he wrote is an embarrassment to both himself and to ESPN. Don't believe me? Click the picture to see it in larger print.Barnes and Noble, the company that published the book, knows that the FOREWORD written by Ray Bourque is important to readers, and makes mention of it on the page featuring their book. Heck it's written right on the cover - "foreword by Ray Bourque". Nowhere do they mention anything about being a forward, moving forward, or backwards and forwards. When it comes to books, the FOREWORD always comes at the beginning of the book. In fact, it was Buccigross who asked Ray Bourque to write the FOREWORD for the book! How does an author not know what the FOREWORD is? Does he not have a copy sitting on his desk to which he can refer?
The "Mother of All Mailbags" should head back to school and learn basic English. I don't care if John Buccigross suddenly becomes the next William Shakespeare in terms of his writing style or the next Bob McKenzie in terms of his hockey intellect. As of this point FORWARD, he's dead to me. Think that's a little too FORWARD? Me neither.
Oh, and just so you all know, the book entitled Jonesy will never be read by me, nor will it appear in Teebz's Book Club. I call that "FORWARD thinking".
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
I believe that the written word is a reflection of how a person communicates verbally, and I personally don’t ever want to see Bucci looking back at me from the TV. I have never projectile vomited before, but you never know.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your reasons for not reading his articles anymore. For me, his poor hockey knowledge and inability to write kill it for me. But see, what’s ridiculous is that writing is a medium that can be revised and edited before it’s put out there for all to read, yet Bucci is unable to catch his own mistakes. Are the thoughts spewing from his brain so fast that he can’t stop to edit his own mindless fodder?
And I really can’t believe that he has enough people writing to him that he needs his own "Mailbag" every week. People! Bucci is NOT funny nor do I care what his opinions are. I’d much rather any of the other analysts at ESPN.com have a mailbag. Wait a second, why am I still reading his stuff...
Maybe someone should send him a rude mailbag question like "why are you such an idiot" or "did you get your degree from a crackerjack box?"
ReplyDeleteI'd love it if someone like Bob McKenzie did a mailbag, but I'm afraid it would somehow mar his awesomeness.
It's funny you mention this because I was sent a free copy of Jonesy a while back to review on Mile High Hockey.
ReplyDeleteThe book is filled with grammatical and spelling problems and suffers from a serious lack of quality editing. The overall content is fine, but the flubs are so distinct as to leave a bad impression.
And what's worse, now we find out that Ray Bourque wrote the FOREWORD to the book not because he was a close friend of Jones or because he had first-hand knowledge of Jones' career, but because he was "the most famous name in his cell phone."
What the hell?
I've noticed a serious decline in the quality of Buccigross' columns this season, and I'm getting close to skipping them altogether. And if he mentions one more time that the nets should be bigger, I'll definitely have to stop letting that slide.
I sent him a vicious email yesterday, DLS. He probably won't respond to it, but if he does, I'll post both on my blog.
ReplyDeleteKirsten, I say you should do it. The more people that complain, the better. He needs to know he's a tool.
I actually like Buccigross, I didn't even think I was in the minority.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would bet he does respond to you he responds to most users (and I actually love his taste in music).
He's one of the few media members that actually seems to like the game, and his writing usually reflects his love of the game. I'll take that over some hack who can only bitch and moan about it all day long.
But I agree with DLS that his columns this season are not up to snuff.
He's a hack, Jibble, in my opinion. He never has his facts straight, he always quotes obscure music from the 1990s from bands who are no longer together, and his spelling and grammar are close to that of a three year-old.
ReplyDeleteHe said in his mailbag on Thursday that Ohlund hit Koivu in the foot with a golf-like swing. That's entirely wrong. He chopped at Koivu's leg, fracturing his tibia. This was reported over every single sports site that covers hockey, including his own.
If his golf reference was supposed to be some attempt at comedy, step away from the microphone.
There's nothing funny about golf anyway. That "sport" is a joke. I'm sure it's extremely difficult to play, but it's hardly an athletic pursuit worth mentioning in a hockey column.
ReplyDeleteI thought most of his music was obscure music from this decade.
ReplyDeleteI can't comment on his article this week, because I didn't get a chance to read them, and I did say that I think this season his writing has slipped considerably.
But in past seasons I like his writing.
I'm exaggerating on the music stuff, but when you use at least one answer per mailbag to chat up music, it's time to walk away from reporting on sports. Especially when the lyrics are obscure or the question has nothing to do with hockey.
ReplyDeleteThe best drummer? Who the eff cares? Put another hockey question in there! It's a HOCKEY article, not a music article. And don't write six lines about the NHL schedule after answering a question that had nothing to do with hockey. On the flip side, don't EVER write six lines of music lyrics when answering a hockey question. ANSWER THE DAMNED QUESTION!
Like DLS wrote on his blog, his music knowledge is suspect at best. And that's how I'd rank his hockey knowledge too.
Whoa, I didn't realize this was going to generate this many comments. haha, awesome. I'm just going to go ahead and agree with everything Teebz is saying because Bucci is a terrible writer, not just in hockey, but IN LIFE.
ReplyDeleteDon't believe me? Check out my "comments" on his Mailbag from this week. I dare you.